There are so many places to visit for a spectacle of lights at local parks or along the water in Washington, DC, Maryland or Virginia. On Christmas Eve, Dave and I chose the Meadowlark botanical gardens in Vienna, VA to uplift our Holiday spirit. For the 2013 holiday season, Meadowlark Gardens is hosting a new Christmas light display called a “Winter Walk of Lights.”
The entrance to the gardens was beautifully decorated with the gift shop, a relaxing spot next to the fireplace and a holiday photo shot.
The walking tour includes 500,000 LED lights and unique animated displays with a nature theme such as a bubbling stream, jumping fish, deer, dragonflies, plus seasonal displays including a Gingerbread Village and a pumpkin patch. We strolled around the spectacular display of illuminated trees, fountains, flowers, and animals, completely thrilled at the beauty. The overall walk took us about 1 hour, though we stopped to take pictures, enjoyed numerous light shows, and also took the time to make marshmallows over the fire. The walking path is 0.6 miles long.
Flowers, flowers everywhere. Meadowlark’s Winter Walk of Lights features a nature theme with a spectacular display of Christmas lights.
The beautiful butterflies sparkle at Meadowlark’s Winter Walk of Lights.
A horse trots through the meadow of lights.
The ice skating rink is a magical seasonal display of lights.
An animated light show with over 40,000 lights is set to music.
A garden sculpture.
Mushrooms all over the path.
The lake with the jumping fish.
The pumpkin patch is a unique Christmas light display at Meadowlark’s Winter Walk of Lights.
Visitors walk over a bridge decked out in Christmas lights.
The Nature Walk includes an animated bubbling stream with jumping fish and nature sounds.
At the end of the trail there is a booth for the visitors to buy marshmallows and S’mores stuff, even sticks for roasting the marshmallows over a small bonfire.
There were two fire pits where kids and families alike were making s’mores and marshmallows. We had fun roasting marshmallows on the fire, making s’mores and drinking hot chocolate.
Illuminating snow fall at the exit.
